List of the Rolling Stones concert tours explained

Since forming in 1962, the English rock band the Rolling Stones have performed more than two thousand concerts around the world,^[1] becoming one of the world's most popular live music attractions in the process. The Stones' first tour in their home country was in September 1963 and their first American tour began in June 1964. In their early years of performing, the band would undertake numerous short tours of the United Kingdom and North America, playing in small- and medium-size venues to audiences composed largely of screaming girls. As time moved on, their audience base expanded (in terms of both size and diversity) and they would increasingly favour larger arenas and stadiums. For many years, the group would choose to play North America, Continental Europe, and the United Kingdom on a three-year rotating cycle.

Many audio recordings exist of Rolling Stones concerts, both official and unofficial. Seventeen official concert albums (eighteen in the United States) have been released by the band, six of which were previously unreleased concert recordings released from 2011–2012, including the highly bootlegged Brussels Affair. Several of their concerts have also been filmed and released under a variety of titles, such as The Stones in the Park which records the band's performance at Hyde Park in 1969 on the festival of the same name.

The most famous and heavily documented of all the band's concerts was the Altamont Free Concert at the Altamont Speedway in 1969, the final show of their American Tour 1969. For this concert, the biker gang Hells Angels provided security, which resulted in a fan, Meredith Hunter, being stabbed and beaten to death by the Angels after he drew a firearm.^[2] Part of the tour and the Altamont concert were documented in Albert and David Maysles' film Gimme Shelter. As a response to the growing popularity of bootleg recordings, the album Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! (UK 1; US 6) was released in 1970; it was declared by critic Lester Bangs to be the best live album ever.^[3]

The biggest concert the band gave was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, part of the A Bigger Bang Tour, in 2006. The second largest was in 2016, when the band played for the first time in Cuba, during their América Latina Olé tour. An estimated 1.2 million fans, more than half of the population of Havana, saw the Rolling Stones whose music had been banned by the Cuban regime until only nine years before the concert. A live album and film, , were released in 2016.

Concert tour chronology

In bold, the tours which, when completed, became the highest-grossing of all time.

Year	Title	Date	Associated album(s)	Continent(s)	Shows
1963	British Tour 1963	29 September 1963 – 3 November 1963	Europe	60
1964	1st British Tour 1964	6 January 1964 – 27 January 1964		Europe	28
	2nd British Tour 1964	8 February 1964 – 7 March 1964		Europe	58
	1st American Tour 1964	5 June 1964 – 20 June 1964	The Rolling Stones	North America	11
	3rd British Tour 1964	1 August 1964 – 22 August 1964		Europe	11
	4th British Tour 1964	5 September 1964 – 11 October 1964		Europe	64
	2nd American Tour 1964	24 October 1964 – 11 November 1964	12 × 5	North America	11
1965	Irish Tour 1965	6 January 1965 – 8 January 1965	The Rolling Stones No. 2	Europe	6
	Far East Tour 1965	22 January 1965 – 16 February 1965		Oceania Asia	36
	1st British Tour 1965	5 March 1965 – 18 March 1965		Europe	28
	1st European Tour 1965	26 March 1965 – 2 April 1965		Europe	11
	2nd European Tour 1965	16 April 1965 – 18 April 1965		Europe	3
	1st American Tour 1965	23 April 1965 – 29 May 1965	The Rolling Stones, Now!	North America	22
	3rd European Tour 1965	15 June 1965 – 29 June 1965	Europe	15
	2nd Irish Tour 1965	3 September 1965 – 4 September 1965		Europe	2
	4th European Tour 1965	11 September 1965 – 17 September 1965		Europe	11
	2nd British Tour 1965	24 September 1965 – 17 October 1965		Europe	48
	2nd American Tour 1965	29 October 1965 – 5 December 1965	Out of Our Heads	Europe	41
1966	Australasian Tour 1966	18 February 1966 – 1 March 1966	Oceania	18
	European Tour 1966	26 March 1966 – 5 April 1966		Europe	12
	American Tour 1966	24 June 1966 – 28 July 1966	Aftermath	North America	32
	British Tour 1966	23 September 1966 – 9 October 1966		Europe	23
1967	European Tour 1967	25 March 1967 – 17 April 1967	Between the Buttons	Europe	27
1969	American Tour 1969	7 November 1969 – 6 December 1969	Beggars Banquet	North America	24
1970	European Tour 1970	30 August 1970 – 9 October 1970	Let It Bleed	Europe	23
1971	UK Tour 1971	4 March 1971 – 26 March 1971		Europe	18
1972	American Tour 1972	3 June 1972 – 26 July 1972	Exile on Main St.	North America	48
1973	Pacific Tour 1973	18 January 1973 – 27 February 1973		North America Oceania	14
	European Tour 1973	1 September 1973 – 19 October 1973	Goats Head Soup	Europe	42
1975	Tour of the Americas '75	1 June 1975 – 8 August 1975	Made in the Shade	North America	46
1976	Tour of Europe '76	28 April 1976 – 23 June 1976	Black and Blue	Europe	41
1978	US Tour 1978	10 June 1978 – 26 July 1978	Some Girls	North America	25
1981	American Tour 1981	25 September 1981 – 19 December 1981	Tattoo You	North America	50
1982	European Tour 1982	26 May 1982 – 25 July 1982		Europe	36
1989	Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour	31 August 1989 – 25 August 1990	Steel Wheels	North America Asia Europe	115
1990
1994	Voodoo Lounge Tour	1 August 1994 – 30 August 1995	Voodoo Lounge	North America South America Africa Asia Oceania Europe	129
1995
1997	Bridges to Babylon Tour	23 September 1997 – 19 September 1998	Bridges to Babylon	North America Asia South America Europe	97
1998
1999	No Security Tour	25 January 1999 – 20 June 1999	No Security	North America Europe	43
2002	Licks Tour	3 September 2002 – 9 November 2003	Forty Licks	North America Oceania Asia Europe	117
2003
2005	A Bigger Bang Tour	21 August 2005 – 26 August 2007	A Bigger Bang	North America South America Asia Oceania Europe	147
2006
2007
2012	50 & Counting	25 October 2012 – 13 July 2013	GRRR!	Europe North America	30
2013
2014	14 On Fire	21 February 2014 – 22 November 2014		Asia Europe Oceania	29
2015	Zip Code	20 May 2015 – 15 July 2015	Sticky Fingers (Deluxe 2015 Edition)	North America	17
2016	América Latina Olé	3 February 2016 – 25 March 2016		South America	14
2017	No Filter Tour	9 September 2017 – 23 November 2021	Blue & Lonesome	Europe North America	58
2018
2019
2021
2022	Sixty	1 June 2022 – 3 August 2022		Europe	14
2024	Hackney Diamonds Tour	28 April — 21 July 2024	Hackney Diamonds	North America	20

See also

• List of highest-grossing concert tours
• List of highest-grossing live music artists

References

Works cited

• Carr, Roy. The Rolling Stones: An Illustrated Record. Harmony Books, 1976.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Rolling Stones' North American Tour Postponed as Mick Jagger Undergoes Medical Treatment. time.com. 2 April 2019. Hillary Leung.
2. Burks, John, "Rock & Roll's Worst Day: The aftermath of Altamont", Rolling Stone, 1970-02-07, URL retrieved 18 April 2007
3. Bangs, Lester. "The Rolling Stones: Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out" . Rolling Stone. 12 November 1970 (accessed 28 April 2007)